The main beneficiaries of a DMS are potential travelers, the providers of tourism products and services, national travel agents and outbound travel agents, national tourism institutions, IT providers and investors.

Information supplied by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

DMOs begin with the management of information on tourism products and services and their online promotion.

The majority of developing countries are mainly concerned with setting up informative e tourism websites to market their destinations.

DMSs are the IT infrastructure used by DMOs for the collection, storage, management and distribution of information and for the transaction of reservations and other commercial activities.

eTourism information technology for strategic tourism management. D. Buhalis, 2003.

Mr. Tuan Anh Le, Director of Tourism Information Technology Center, National Administration of Tourism, Viet Nam

A key point to bear in mind is that e tourism websites serve a dual function to provide information for visitors to aid in planning their trip and to advertise and sell tourism products once the visitors are already at the destination.

The distribution of tourism information and products over the Internet is the main area where technological innovation has had the most profound impact on tourism enterprises (producers and distributors).

Tourist attraction

When editing game info you only need to choose a game, then you can go to a dialog where you edit the details of the game.

Tourism services comprise advice, information, sale of accommodation, transport, international tourism services and excursions entrance to parks and swimming pools individually or in groups.

In addition, recent trends in the use of ICTs in general and particularly for travel and tourism show that the more online experience consumers have, the more likely they are to look for tourism information and buy tourism products online.

The distribution of tourism information and products over the Internet is the main area where technological innovation has had the most profound impact on tourism enterprises (producers and distributors).

Eco tourism, cultural and natural heritage tourism, health and medical tourism and adventure tourism are some of the tourism niches that are increasingly marketed by destinations and tourism enterprises in developing countries.

When the report had been prepared, in 2000, no information had been available regarding sexual tourism.

Mr. Aley Sobers, Director of Research and Information Management, Caribbean Tourism Organisation

The promotion of tourism niches by developing countries for which many of them enjoy a competitive advantage and the development of DMSs that offer tourism enterprises and consumers respectively an innovative way to promote and obtain tourism information (e.g. search engine, trip planner, interactive maps and virtual tours) are contributing factors to the creation of value.

Tourism is an information intensive sector and therefore has significantly benefited from ICTs.

It is understood that a major highlight of the China EU Tourism Year is to recommend unknown European tourist attractions to Chinese tourists.

DMOs should advertise the existence of their e tourism website.

The use of ICT tools such as DMSs should assist them in their efforts to market their tourism offer globally and to ensure the strategic management of their destinations to ultimately improve their competitiveness on tourism markets.

According to the World Tourism Organization, the majority of tourist venues in the affected countries are able to welcome visitors again.

Building effective DMSs supposes that DMOs integrate accurate information about all tourism resources, as well as a wide range of dynamic services in the form of personalized advice or brochures to respond to consumer expectations with regard to things to do or places to stay.

In order to market their tourism products efficiently, destination and tourism providers should keep abreast of technological developments and standards.

Mr. Haga Tsialonina Rasolofoniaina, Director of Information Systems, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Madagascar

Public authorities, DMOs and tourism enterprises should fully understand the opportunities and challenges of e tourism and overcome the barriers that still hamper the use of ICTs.

In addition, the Municipal Tourism Commission has continuously improved the electronic travel itinerary information system of the tour group to ensure that each group is included in the electronic itinerary platform supervision.

It does not therefore necessarily reflect the interests, the tourism wealth, or policies of the destination countries.

Contributing factors for the successful integration of local tourism enterprises into international tourism markets are adequate e tourism strategies that focus on tourism innovation in terms of tourism products and adoption of e business tools such as destination management systems.

Managing and promoting destinations

According to recent studies, consumers all around the world are turning to the Internet first to find travel information and 54 per cent of online travel consumers start travel research with an online travel agency.

Sustainable consumption in tourism integrates sustainability issues in the selection of destinations and service providers and in the tourists' behaviour during their stay at the destination.

Tourism niches such as ecotourism one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry are increasingly promoted by DMOs in many developing countries, allowing them to diversify their tourism offer.

Adaptation to climate variability will be the only way forward in many destinations that are currently prime holiday spots.

Defining a tourism strategy based on destination resources, consumer demand and the interest of local communities is the first step in engaging in an e tourism strategy and starting to build the image of the destination, using a DMS as a promotional tool and eventually as an online reservation system.

DMOs should guarantee the credibility of the system by providing unbiased information and offering an easy to use, attractive website.

We have to fix the date for our trip quickly.

In order to promote e tourism development, UNCTAD has developed a DMS as part of the E Tourism Initiative, a technical assistance package aimed at promoting the application of ICTs in tourism so as to enable developing countries to exploit their tourism resources.

The main driver will be foreign direct investment in tourism, information technology and other sectors.

The growing adoption of the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) standard based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) greatly facilitates the exchange of information between tourism enterprises such as airlines, hotels, car rental enterprises and travel integrators such as Cendant, Sabre, Expedia, Orbitz, and SITA.

Some DMOs have developed booking engines in partnership with ICT providers and have defined transaction fees applicable to the different participants in the DMS.

Destination management and promotion are key strategies to respond to consumers' expectations, ensure sustainable development and improve the relative position of destinations in developing countries on the global tourism market.

In order to set up a DMS, Governments and DMOs should organize consultative meetings with relevant partners.

Interesting examples at the regional and national levels are the DMSs developed by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.